iPods and iPhones are great for loading up with prerecorded music and everything, but no matter how large your hard drive is you're going to run out of new stuff to listen to eventually. But now that these devices are getting powerful enough to run robust programs, you'll soon have the ability to listen to new, actively-generated music on your iPhone that's completely unique.

While we already saw a program for creating music demoed at WWDC, what'll be really interesting is seeing programs that create music without user input. I'm not talking about music like new Coldplay songs, but rather electronic music that can be written as a set of procedures rather than a series of notes. Back in 1996, ambient music pioneer Brian Eno released Generative Music 1, which came on discs and used early Koan software.

It's only a matter of time before contemporary experimental electronic artists such as Keith Fullerton Whitman start releasing music that creates itself on your portable device. And while it's doubtful that you'll want to get rid of all your familiar music for some esoteric actively-generated music, it'll be a pretty awesome alternative to listening to those same 10 albums over and over again. [PSFK]